The present invention is directed to a printable form such as a business form having a base sheet and an integral removable label associated therewith made of a material distinct from the base sheet. The present invention is also directed to a method for making such a printable form.
In the manufacture of printable forms such as business forms there are circumstances in which it is desirable to form an integral, but ultimately separable, self-adhesive label as part of the printable form. There are also many circumstances in which it is desirable to print on the self-adhesive label and on the back of the printable form.
Conventional methods for the manufacture of printable forms with integrated removable labels typically require either the lamination of two webs of material or the direct adhesion of a label laminate to a base sheet. When laminating two webs of material to prepare an integrated form/label, one web is a base sheet of the form for printing and the other web provides a backing for the label. A pressure-sensitive adhesive is typically applied to a portion of the rear face of the base sheet (first web) followed with a backing comprised of paper or similar material (second web) coated with a release layer. This combination of backing and adhesive material is often referred to as a liner-patch. A label is then cut from the base sheet where the backing has been applied. A variation of this procedure is to simultaneously apply the pressure-sensitive adhesive and backing (paper coated with release layer) to the rear face of the base sheet in the form of a transfer tape so that the adhesive layer of this transfer tape contacts the rear face of the base sheet. Other examples of laminating techniques used to produce business forms with labels integrated therein are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,240,153; 5,507,901; 5,632,842 and 5,656,369. While these laminating techniques provide adequate form/label combinations, there are limitations. Special labels with a face-stock made of synthetic materials cannot be provided unless the entire base sheet is formed of the synthetic material.
As mentioned above, an alternative to lamination techniques using a liner-patch or transfer tape is to adhere a complete label laminate, including face-stock, adhesive and a backing, to a base sheet. This technique will provide labels with a face-stock of synthetic materials without requiring that the entire base sheet be made of the synthetic material. However, the use of a complete label laminate requires that the form/label combination have a thickness greater than 3 webs at the label provided by a base sheet, a label backing and a label face-stock. This increase in thickness increases the risk of paper jams in printing equipment. There is also an increased risk of separation of the face-stock or backing from the base sheet during printing or handling resulting in exposure of adhesive.
The present invention provides printable forms with integrated removable labels having a face-stock of a material distinct from the material of the base sheet which requires only 2 webs at the label location. This is accomplished by using a component, referred to herein as a label-patch, on the front face of a base sheet. The label-patch comprises a face-stock and an adhesive. The use of the label-patch allows the face-stock of the label to be of material distinct from that of the base sheet without requiring 3 webs of material at the label. The printable forms of this invention and the methods for obtaining them do not require the use of a complete label laminate to provide a label face-stock of a material distinct from the base sheet. In using a label-patch, instead of a label laminate the present invention eliminates the need for a separate backing layer for the integrated label which eliminates the possibility for the base sheet to separate from the backing. The use of the label-patch also reduces the tendency of the integrated form to jam the printing equipment during use due to a reduced thickness at the label.
To eliminate the backing layer and permit the use of a label-patch, the base sheet of the printable form must support a solid silicone release layer. To accomplish this, a silicone coating composition is preferably deposited on the front face of the base sheet and cured, preferably with UV light.
The printable forms of the present invention are well suited for duplex printing applications where variable print is printed on both the front and back of the printable form. The papers used for the backing of liner-patches are normally super calendered Kraft papers that are not toner receptive in that they are too smooth for the toner to anchor properly. By eliminating the liner-patch, the entire rear face of the base sheet is available for printing. In contrast, the face-stock of the label-patch is receptive to toner. Printing along the edge of the label-patch and the base sheet should be avoided due to the height difference. This is not a disadvantage in that print along the edges of the label is typically avoided for proper formatting. The increase in thickness of the printable form at the label with the use of a label-patch is less than that when using a label laminate.
More than one different type of label face-stock material can be applied to a single base sheet such, as for example, both a label-patch with a polyethylene terephthalate face-stock label and a label-patch with a face-stock of bond paper can be applied to a base sheet. The printable forms of this invention include individually cut sheets or continuous sheets. In other embodiments, print under the silicone release layer can be provided by printing of the base sheet before the silicone release layer is applied. In preferred embodiments, the edges of the face-stock for the label-patch are locked down by extending beyond the silicone release layer and adhering directly to the surface of the base sheet.